Computer Networks

● Network : A network is a set of devices that are connected with a physical media link. In a
network, two or more nodes are connected by a physical link or two or more networks are
connected by one or more nodes. A network is a collection of devices connected to each other to
allow the sharing of data.

● Network Topology : Network topology specifies the layout of a computer network. It

shows how devices and cables are connected to each other.

Types of Network Topology :

● Star :
● Star topology is a network topology in which all the nodes are connected to a
single device known as a central device.
● Star topology requires more cable compared to other topologies. Therefore, it is
more robust as a failure in one cable will only disconnect a specific computer
connected to this cable.
● If the central device is damaged, then the whole network fails.
● Star topology is very easy to install, manage and troubleshoot. It is
commonly used in office and home networks.

● Ring :
1. Ring topology is a network topology in which nodes are exactly connected to two or
more nodes and thus, forming a single continuous path for the transmission.
2. It does not need any central server to control the connectivity among the nodes.
3. If the single node is damaged, then the whole network fails.
4. Ring topology is very rarely used as it is expensive, difficult to install and
manage.
5. Examples of Ring topology are SONET network, SDH network, etc.
● Bus :
1. Bus topology is a network topology in which all the nodes are connected to a single
cable known as a central cable or bus.
2. It acts as a shared communication medium, i.e., if any device wants to send the data to
other devices, then it will send the data over the bus which in turn sends the data to all
the attached devices.
3. Bus topology is useful for a small number of devices.
4. As if the bus is damaged then the whole network fails.

● Mesh :
1. Mesh topology is a network topology in which all the nodes are individually
connected to other nodes.
2. It does not need any central switch or hub to control the connectivity among the nodes.
3. Mesh topology is categorized into two parts: Fully connected mesh topology: In
this topology, all the nodes are connected to each other. Partially connected mesh
topology: In this topology, all the nodes are not connected to each other.
4. It is robust as a failure in one cable will only disconnect the specified computer
connected to this cable.
5. Mesh topology is rarely used as installation and configuration are difficult when
connectivity gets more.
6. Cabling cost is high as it requires bulk wiring.
● Tree :
1. Tree topology is a combination of star and bus topology. It is also known as the
expanded star topology.
2. In tree topology, all the star networks are connected to a single bus.
3. Ethernet protocol is used in this topology.
4. In this, the whole network is divided into segments known as star networks which can be
easily maintained. If one segment is damaged, there is no effect on other segments.
5. Tree topology depends on the "main bus," and if it breaks, then the whole
network gets damaged

● Hybrid :
1. A hybrid topology is a combination of different topologies to form a resulting
topology.
2. If star topology is connected with another star topology, then it remains a star topology.
If star topology is connected with different topology, then it becomes a Hybrid
topology.
3. It provides flexibility as it can be implemented in a different network environment.

● Different Types of Networks : (Imp) - Networks can be divided on the basis of area of
distribution. For example:
● PAN (Personal Area Network): Its range limit is up to 10 meters. It is created for personal
use. Generally, personal devices are connected to this network. For example computers,
telephones, fax, printers, etc.
● LAN (Local Area Network): It is used for a small geographical location like office,
hospital, school, etc.

● HAN (House Area Network): It is actually a LAN that is used within a house and used to
connect homely devices like personal computers, phones, printers, etc.

● CAN (Campus Area Network): It is a connection of devices within a campus area which links
to other departments of the organization within the same campus.

● MAN (Metropolitan Area Network): It is used to connect the devices which span to
large cities like metropolitan cities over a wide geographical area.

● WAN (Wide Area Network): It is used over a wide geographical location that may range to
connect cities and countries.

● GAN (Global Area Network): It uses satellites to connect devices over the global area.

● VPN (Virtual Private Network) : VPN or the Virtual Private Network is a private WAN
(Wide Area Network) built on the internet. It allows the creation of a secured tunnel
(protected network) between different networks using the internet (public network). By using
the VPN, a client can connect to the organization’s network remotely.

● Advantages of VPN :

1. VPN is used to connect offices in different geographical locations remotely and is

cheaper when compared to WAN connections.

2. VPN is used for secure transactions and confidential data transfer between
multiple offices located in different geographical locations.

3. VPN keeps an organization’s information secured against any potential threats or

intrusions by using virtualization.

4. VPN encrypts the internet traffic and disguises the online identity.

● Types of VPN :
● Access VPN: Access VPN is used to provide connectivity to remote mobile users and
telecommuters. It serves as an alternative to dial-up connections or ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) connections. It is a low-cost solution and provides a wide range of
connectivity.
● Site-to-Site VPN: A Site-to-Site or Router-to-Router VPN is commonly used in large
companies having branches in different locations to connect the network of one office to another
in different locations. There are 2 sub-categories as mentioned below:
● Intranet VPN: Intranet VPN is useful for connecting remote offices in different
geographical locations using shared infrastructure (internet connectivity and servers) with
the same accessibility policies as a private WAN (wide area network).
● Extranet VPN: Extranet VPN uses shared infrastructure over an intranet, suppliers, customers,
partners, and other entities and connects them using dedicated connections.

● IPv4 Address : An IP address is a 32-bit dynamic address of a node in the network. An IPv4
address has 4 octets of 8-bit each with each number with a value up to 255. IPv4 classes are
differentiated based on the number of hosts it supports on the network. There are five types of
IPv4 classes and are based on the first octet of IP addresses which are classified as Class A, B,
C, D, or E.
● OSI (Open System Interconnections) (Imp) : It is a network architecture model based on
the ISO standards. It is called the OSI model as it deals with connecting the systems that are
open for communication with other systems. The OSI model has seven layers. The
principles used to arrive at the seven layers can be summarized briefly as below:
1. Create a new layer if a different abstraction is needed.
2. Each layer should have a well-defined function.
3. The function of each layer is chosen based on internationally standardized
protocols.
● Seven Layers :
1. Physical Layer
● It is the lowest layer of the OSI reference model.
● It is used for the transmission of an unstructured raw bit stream over a physical
medium.
● Physical layer transmits the data either in the form of electrical/optical or
mechanical form.
● The physical layer is mainly used for the physical connection between the devices, and
such physical connection can be made by using twisted-pair cable, fibre-optic or
wireless transmission media.

2. DataLink Layer
● It is used for transferring the data from one node to another node.
● It receives the data from the network layer and converts the data into data frames and
then attaches the physical address to these frames which are sent to the physical layer.
● It enables the error-free transfer of data from one node to another node.

Functions of Data-link layer:

● Frame synchronization: Data-link layer converts the data into frames, and it ensures that
the destination must recognize the starting and ending of each frame.

● Flow control: Data-link layer controls the data flow within the network.
 ● Error control: It detects and corrects the error occurred during the transmission from source
to destination.

● Addressing: Data-link layers attach the physical address with the data frames so that the
individual machines can be easily identified.

● Link management: Data-link layer manages the initiation, maintenance and termination of the
link between the source and destination for the effective exchange of data.

3. Network Layer

● Network layer converts the logical address into the physical address.

● The routing concept means it determines the best route for the packet to travel from source
to the destination.
Functions of network layer :

● Routing: The network layer determines the best route from source to destination. This
function is known as routing.

● Logical addressing: The network layer defines the addressing scheme to identify each device
uniquely.

● Packetizing: The network layer receives the data from the upper layer and converts the data
into packets. This process is known as packetizing.

● Internetworking: The network layer provides the logical connection between the
different types of networks for forming a bigger network.

● Fragmentation: It is a process of dividing the packets into fragments..

4. Transport Layer

● It delivers the message through the network and provides error checking so that no error occurs
during the transfer of data.

● It provides two kinds of services:

○ Connection-oriented transmission: In this transmission, the receiver sends the

acknowledgement to the sender after the packet has been received.
 ○ Connectionless transmission: In this transmission, the receiver does not send the
acknowledgement to the sender.

5. Session Layer

● The main responsibility of the session layer is beginning, maintaining and ending the
communication between the devices.

● Session layer also reports the error coming from the upper layers.

● Session layer establishes and maintains the session between the two users.

6. Presentation Layer

● The presentation layer is also known as a Translation layer as it translates the data from one
format to another format.

● At the sender side, this layer translates the data format used by the application layer to the
common format and at the receiver side, this layer translates the common format into a format
used by the application layer.
Functions of presentation layer:

○ Character code translation

○ Data conversion

○ Data compression

○ Data encryption

7. Application Layer

● Application layer enables the user to access the network.

● It is the topmost layer of the OSI reference model.

● Application layer protocols are file transfer protocol, simple mail transfer protocol,
domain name system, etc.

● The most widely used application protocol is HTTP(Hypertext transfer protocol ). A user sends
the request for the web page using HTTP.
● TCP/IP Reference Model : It is a compressed version of the OSI model with only 4
layers. It was developed by the US Department of Defence (DoD) in the 1860s. The name
of this model is based on 2 standard protocols used i.e. TCP (Transmission Control
Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol).
1. Link : Decides which links such as serial lines or classic Ethernet must be used to meet
the needs of the connectionless internet layer. Ex - Sonet, Ethernet
2. Internet : The internet layer is the most important layer which holds the whole
architecture together. It delivers the IP packets where they are supposed to be
delivered. Ex - IP, ICMP.
3. Transport : Its functionality is almost the same as the OSI transport layer. It enables
peer entities on the network to carry on a conversation. Ex - TCP, UDP (User
Datagram Protocol)
4. Application : It contains all the higher-level protocols. Ex - HTTP, SMTP, RTP,
DNS.

● HTTP and HTTPS :

HTTP is the HyperText Transfer Protocol which defines the set of rules and standards on
how the information can be transmitted on the World Wide Web (WWW). It helps the web
browsers and web servers for communication. It is a ‘stateless protocol’ where each command is
independent with respect to the previous command. HTTP is an application layer protocol
built upon the TCP. It uses port 80 by default.

HTTPS is the HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure or Secure HTTP. It is an advanced

and secured version of HTTP. On top of HTTP, SSL/TLS protocol is used to provide security. It
enables secure transactions by encrypting the communication and also helps
identify network servers securely. It uses port 443 by default.

● DNS (Imp) :
1. DNS is an acronym that stands for Domain Name System.DNS was introduced by
Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel in 1983.
2. It is a naming system for all the resources over the internet which includes
physical nodes and applications. It is used to locate resources easily over a
network.
3. DNS is an internet which maps the domain names to their associated IP
addresses.
 4. Without DNS, users must know the IP address of the web page that you wanted to
access.
● Working of DNS (Imp): If you want to visit the website of "shaurya", then the user will type
"https://www.shaurya.com" into the address bar of the web browser. Once the domain name is
entered, then the domain name system will translate the domain name into the IP address which
can be easily interpreted by the computer. Using the IP address, the computer can locate the web
page requested by the user.

● DNS Forwarder : A forwarder is used with a DNS server when it receives DNS queries that
cannot be resolved quickly. So it forwards those requests to external DNS servers for
resolution. A DNS server which is configured as a forwarder will behave differently than the
DNS server which is not configured as a forwarder.

● SMTP Protocol : SMTP is the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. SMTP sets the rule for
communication between servers. This set of rules helps the software to transmit emails over the
internet. It supports both End-to-End and Store-and-Forward methods. It is in always-listening
mode on port 25.

● Difference Between TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User

Datagram Protocol):
1. TCP is a connection-oriented protocol, whereas UDP is a connectionless protocol. A
key difference between TCP and UDP is speed, as TCP is comparatively slower
than UDP. Overall, UDP is a much faster, simpler, and efficient protocol, however,
retransmission of lost data packets is only possible with TCP
2. TCP provides extensive error checking mechanisms. It is because it provides flow
control and acknowledgment of data. UDP has only the basic error checking
mechanism using checksums.
 Important Protocols

A protocol is a set of rules which is used to govern all the aspects of information communication.The
main elements of a protocol are:

● Syntax: It specifies the structure or format of the data. It also specifies the order in which they
are presented.

● Semantics: It specifies the meaning of each section of bits.

● Timing: Timing specifies two characteristics: When data should be sent and how fast it can be
sent.

● DHCP: DHCP is the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is an application layer

protocol used to auto-configure devices on IP networks enabling them to use the TCP and UDP-
based protocols. The DHCP servers auto-assign the IPs and other network configurations to the
devices individually which enables them to communicate over the IP network. It helps to get the
subnet mask, IP address and helps to resolve the DNS. It uses port 67 by default.
● FTP : FTP is a File Transfer Protocol. It is an application layer protocol used to transfer files
and data reliably and efficiently between hosts. It can also be used to download files from remote
servers to your computer. It uses port 27 by default.
● ICMP : ICMP is the Internet Control Message Protocol. It is a network layer protocol
used for error handling. It is mainly used by network devices like routers for diagnosing the
network connection issues and crucial for error reporting and testing if the data is reaching the
preferred destination in time. It uses port 7 by default.
● ARP : ARP is Address Resolution Protocol. It is a network-level protocol used to convert
the logical address i.e. IP address to the device's physical address i.e. MAC address. It can also
be used to get the MAC address of devices when they are trying to communicate over the local
network.
● RIP :RIP stands for Routing Information Protocol. It is accessed by the routers to send data
from one network to another. RIP is a dynamic protocol which is used to find the best route
from source to the destination over a network by using the hop count
 algorithm. Routers use this protocol to exchange the network topology information. This protocol can
be used by small or medium-sized networks.

● MAC address and IP address (Imp) :

1. Both MAC (Media Access Control) Address and IP Address are used to uniquely define a
device on the internet. NIC Card’s Manufacturer provides the MAC Address, on the other
hand Internet Service Provider provides IP Address.

2. The main difference between MAC and IP address is that MAC Address is used to
ensure the physical address of a computer. It uniquely identifies the devices on a network.
While IP addresses are used to uniquely identify the connection of a network with that device
taking part in a network.

● Ipconfig and Ifconfig :

1. Ipconfig : Internet Protocol Configuration, It is a command used in Microsoft operating
systems to view and configure network interfaces

2. Ifconfig : Interface Configuration, It is a command used in MAC, Linux, UNIX operating

systems to view and configure network interfaces

● Firewall : The firewall is a network security system that is used to monitor the incoming and
outgoing traffic and blocks the same based on the firewall security policies. It acts as a wall
between the internet (public network) and the networking devices (a private network). It is either
a hardware device, software program, or a combination of both. It adds a layer of security to the
network.
 Important Key Points

1. What happens when you enter google.com in the web browser? (Most Imp)
Steps :
● Check the browser cache first if the content is fresh and present in the cache display the same.
● If not, the browser checks if the IP of the URL is present in the cache (browser and OS) if not
then requests the OS to do a DNS lookup using UDP to get the corresponding IP address of the
URL from the DNS server to establish a new TCP connection.
● A new TCP connection is set between the browser and the server using three-way
handshaking.
● An HTTP request is sent to the server using the TCP connection.
● The web servers running on the Servers handle the incoming HTTP request and send the
HTTP response.
● The browser processes the HTTP response sent by the server and may close the TCP
connection or reuse the same for future requests.
● If the response data is cacheable then browsers cache the same.
● Browser decodes the response and renders the content.

2. Hub: Hub is a networking device which is used to transmit the signal to each port (except one
port) to respond from which the signal was received. Hub is operated on a Physical layer. In
this packet filtering is not available. It is of two types: Active Hub, Passive Hub.

Switch: Switch is a network device which is used to enable the connection establishment and
connection termination on the basis of need. Switch is operated on the Data link layer. In this
packet filtering is available. It is a type of full duplex transmission mode and it is also called an
efficient bridge.

3. A subnet is a network inside a network achieved by the process called subnetting which helps
divide a network into subnets. It is used for getting a higher routing efficiency and enhances the
security of the network. It reduces the time to extract the host address from the routing table.
4. The reliability of a network can be measured by the following factors:
● Downtime: The downtime is defined as the required time to recover.

● Failure Frequency: It is the frequency when it fails to work the way it is intended.

● Catastrophe: It indicates that the network has been attacked by some unexpected event such as
fire, earthquake.

5. There are mainly two criteria which make a network effective and efficient:

● Performance : performance can be measured in many ways like transmit time and
response time.

● Reliability: reliability is measured by frequency of failure.

● Robustness: robustness specifies the quality or condition of being strong and in good
condition.

● Security: It specifies how to protect data from unauthorized access and viruses.

6. Node and Link : A network is a connection setup of two or more computers directly
connected by some physical mediums like optical fiber or coaxial cable. This physical medium
of connection is known as a link, and the computers that it is connected to are known as nodes.

7. Gateway and router : A node that is connected to two or more networks is commonly known
as a gateway. It is also known as a router. It is used to forward messages from one network to
another. Both the gateway and router regulate the traffic in the network.
Differences between gateway and router: A router sends the data between two similar
networks while gateway sends the data between two dissimilar networks.
8. NIC (Imp) : NIC stands for Network Interface Card. It is a peripheral card attached to the
PC to connect to a network. Every NIC has its own MAC address that identifies the PC on the
network. It provides a wireless connection to a local area network. NICs were mainly used in
desktop computers.

9. POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol version3. POP is responsible for accessing the
mail service on a client machine. POP3 works on two models such as Delete mode and Keep
mode.

10. Private IP Address - There are three ranges of IP addresses that have been reserved for IP
addresses. They are not valid for use on the internet. If you want to access the internet on these
private IPs, you must use a proxy server or NAT server.

Public IP Address - A public IP address is an address taken by the Internet Service Provider
which facilitates communication on the internet.

11. RAID ( Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks): It is a method to provide Fault

Tolerance by using multiple Hard Disc Drives.

12. Netstat : It is a command line utility program. It gives useful information about the
current TCP/IP setting of a connection.
13. Ping : The "ping" is a utility program that allows you to check the connectivity between the
network devices. You can ping devices using its IP address or name.

14. The processes on each machine that communicate at a given layer are called

peer-peer processes. (P2P).

15. Unicasting: If the message is sent to a single node from the source then it is known as
unicasting. This is commonly used in networks to establish a new connection.

Anycasting: If the message is sent to any of the nodes from the source then it is known as
anycasting. It is mainly used to get the content from any of the servers in the Content Delivery
System.

Multicasting: If the message is sent to a subset of nodes from the source then it is known as
multicasting. Used to send the same data to multiple receivers.

Broadcasting: If the message is sent to all the nodes in a network from a source then it is
known as broadcasting. DHCP and ARP in the local network use broadcasting.